Citation

Ahangari S, Jeihani M, Salahshour B, Ndegwa M. Int. J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Belgrade) 2020; 10(2): 252-265.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, City Net Scientific Research Center, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade)

DOI

10.7708/ijtte.2020.10(2).10

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Studies have examined the detrimental impact of distracted driving on safety; however, the effect of different types of distraction accompanied by different road classes has not been investigated. This study used a high-fidelity driving simulator to examine the driving behavior of young participants while engaged in various distractions - no cell phone, hands-free call, hand-held call, voice commands text, text, clothing, eating or drinking - on different road classes: rural collector, freeway, urban arterial, and local road in a school zone. Some 92 participants drove a simulated network in Baltimore County with seven scenarios (one base scenario without any distraction and six different types of distraction). Participants also completed questionnaires documenting demographics and driving behavior before and after the driving simulator experience. The descriptive and statistical analysis revealed the negative impact of distraction on safety, such that participants exhibited greater fluctuations in speed, changed lanes significantly more times, and deviated from the center of the road when they were distracted while driving. The results indicated that drivers reduced their speed up to 33% while distracted with hands-free/voice command cell phone usage, which is inconsistent with the current cell phone usage policies in most states.

Language: en